August may be a slow month for U.S. Supreme Court justices but not for the court’s clerk’s office given the rush of new cases being filed by litigants seeking review during the coming term.

The justices are scheduled to return for their annual “long conference” on Sept. 30 to consider the stacks of petitions that have been piling up in their absence, followed by the beginning of the October 2024 Supreme Court term on Oct. 7. With the court’s merits docket only around half-full, the justices are expected to continue adding cases to the calendar until around mid-January, after which granted cases won’t be heard until late 2025 at the earliest.